Hi friends,
As I opened this page to begin a long time coming newsletter to you all, I searched for “yoga quotes on busy life,” knowing that I wanted to share about maintaining balance and serenity through the “busy”. The desire to share from my life is not so much for “look at me and what I’m doing” but more so with the hope that you can use the personal stories I share as an inquiry for how you can also turn the practice of yoga into your life. In the search, I immediately came upon the below quote from a favorite author and motivator, Brene Brown.
I learned so much from her a few years ago with her books Rising Strong and Daring Greatly. And I understand that her book “I thought it was just me” speaks on exactly the way that I aim to live/connect with others. You see, we really aren’t so different from one another, most of us with tendencies of allowing our thoughts to get the best of us and to hide negative emotions like shame at the most normal of human experiences. And then a connecting piece between those of us from Western cultures is the mentality that if we’re not staying busy, then we’re not trying hard enough, helping enough, doing enough, and basically that we are not enough.
Yoga and other support systems have helped me to get past the above human tendencies, or at least recognize that I have them so as to connect with others through the struggle and learn what I need to do to re-learn another way. Admittedly, I still have a long way to go on this journey of letting those mind-frames go, but it’s a work in progress nonetheless.
One of the groups that helped me to reach another layer of overcoming the “disease” of busying myself, or of getting in my head about how much there is to do/figure out in life, was the 3 month business coaching program I did with Samantha Lane of Origami Day called Balanced Business Ownership. There’s our group below! She’s doing more of these coaching group sessions, so definitely reach out to her if you’re in need of finding more balance in your work-life.
On the first and last day, Samantha asked us to rate our work-life balance. That first day, I rated mine as a 5 🙁 The last day, I rated my work-life balance as an 8-9. Honestly, not much had changed about what I was doing with my days, but it was how I chose to look at it. Rather than seeing my hours teaching and preparing to teach yoga as “work” and therefore adding to the hours of work that I do in a week, I flipped the perspective to see it as another part of my life that I love. Even if I am getting paid (making it “work”), it fills me with a sense of joy and pulls me into a state of presence like none other, which then gets pulled into the rest of my life. As I continue to do more of the things that bring this sense of peace to my life (like writing newsletters more frequently) while also allowing myself to find pauses admits the movement (like seated meditation or noticing a simple breath), my satisfaction for life will continue to stay on the higher side of the scale.
Sure, there’s a lot to do in life, with a never ending to-do list for all of us. But remaining present is crucial to checking in with how we feel and what we need, focusing on what and who are right in front of us, and getting the most out of this one experience. Other things that have helped me to remain present amongst the “busy”:
– Sleep routine – early to bed, early to rise
– Daily morning meditation
– Daily movement – honoring where I am that day/what my body needs in the moment
– Reminding myself that the tasks will still be there if I take care of myself and they will get completed BETTER if I am in my right state of mind.
Thank you for reading this through and being a part of this journey with me. If there is anything at all that I can do to help you along your own path towards wellness (like guiding you through yoga or meditation, teaching for a group around St. Simons or Charleston, helping you find more balance in your life, or connecting you with an expert in another wellness field), please don’t hesitate to reach out!
